Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun steps away as his team huddles up before facing Nicholls State in the third quarter of an NCAA college football game at Air Force Academy, Colo., on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Fans hoping to travel to an Air Force bowl game may be booking airline tickets on short notice.

The Falcons, like every other team in the Mountain West, will have to wait until at least midafternoon Sunday to learn their bowl destination.

Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said Monday that the league’s bowl picture won’t come into focus until the major bowls make their selections. Among the scenarios still in play are Boise State winning the conference title and going to a New Year’s College Football Playoff game (not the top four) and the Cactus Bowl seeing a spot open for a Mountain West team.

With these factors on the table, Thompson said he had no problem holding up the selection process for everyone else to ensure the best possible outcome for the league’s seven bowl-eligible teams. Nationwide, three bowl-eligible teams will not be selected.

What does this mean for Air Force? It means the Falcons (9-3) must wait.

Each of the six bowls that have agreements with the Mountain West remain in play for the Falcons, as does the Cactus Bowl, to be played Jan. 2 in Tempe, Ariz.

The Cactus Bowl would become an option if the Big 12 can’t fill all of its spots.

Thompson said one option he doesn’t foresee developing is an Air Force trip to the Armed Forces Bowl, which has an opening because Army failed to become eligible.

“I don’t think so,” Thompson said when asked if Air Force could make a fifth trip to the game in Fort Worth, Texas, since 2007. “Certainly we’ve had no conversation, we being the conference office, with the Armed Forces Bowl.”

Footnote. Air Force senior kicker Will Conant was named the Mountain West special-teams player of the week for a performance against Colorado State that saw him go 2-for-2 on field-goal attempts — including the game-winning 39-yard kick as time expired — as well as booting seven punts for a 52.9-yard average.

More in Sports

When New England won the toss, Patriots captain Devin McCourty thought: “As soon as I saw it was heads, I was like: I’ve seen this before. I know what happens at the end of this one.” Does the NFL need to change its overtime rules?

The Avalanche second-line center tipped the puck past Kings’ goaltender Jonathan Quick in the first period Saturday. It opened the floodgates for a 7-1 victory and notched Soderberg’s 16th score of the season -- tying a career high set last year. Soderberg now has 34 more games to extend it starting Monday against the Predators inside Pepsi Center.